"I think it helped Notre Dame down the stretch down 5 to Stephen F. Austin when the game was lost with a minute and a half to go. Certainly Wisconsin is not going to be intimidated by any situation late in the game, so it benefits both and makes for quality entertainment Friday night," said Prister.

Coach Mike Brey says there are differences between last year's Elite Eight team and this season's battle tested group.

"They had that cloud of ACC champions over their head. Then we lose two in Orlando and you're not any good. Last year's team just had to play. This group had that aura the whole time - that's why I have a lot of respect for them," Coach Brey said.

Wisconsin's style of play is slow and methodical, where every possession matters.

For the current group of Irish players, no matter who they play, they believe when they play their style, they're tough to beat.

"We bring our own swagger, we bring our own engine, we bring our own style. We have a great rhythm offensively, we're playing really well defensively. We're doing the little things that don't show up on the stat sheet, but doing all those things give us confidence going in to the next game," said forward Bonzie Colson.